Page 60 of Whiskey and Whispers
“How did Dad know Nic? He’s never once mentioned him that I know of.”
“And he never will,” Mark replied. “Your father met Nic at college, where he met your mother, as you already know. Nic and Joel were rivals. They were always competing, whether it be in sports, grades, clubs, or girls. And your dad never won. He certainly didn’t win with Lily. She and Nic had dated for years. They went to the same boarding school, so we’d known them since we were kids.”
“Then Nic died.”
“Yes, and Joel rushed in to fill the void. He even acted like a human being to convince your mother to marry him. Of course, we both know that didn’t last. Once he had your mother down the aisle and then pregnant, he reverted to the money-hungry monster we all know and love.”
“I didn’t know any of this,” Tate said, all the new information about his mom crashing through his brain. It was hard to make sense of it all. Joel acting normal. Lily in love with someone else. And poor Nic, who never had a chance. Had his mother pined her entire life for a man gone too soon? She’d kept the photos, after all. “She never said anything. No one did. Why didn’t you tell us after she was gone?”
Mark gave Tate a puzzled look.
“Why would I tell you about Nic? That was a lifetime ago, and it didn’t have anything to do with her disappearance.”
Tate couldn’t explain why he wanted and needed to know. He just did. It was only after his mother had disappeared that he’d realized she’d kept so much of her life a mystery. He wanted to know every detail about her. Deep in his gut, he thought that there was a nugget of knowledge that would lead them to the truth about what happened. He only had to find it.
“It explains so much,” Tate replied instead. “About Mom…and Dad. She was grieving her true love, and he resented her for it.”
“Wait,” Mark said, holding his hands up. “I’m not telling this story well. Yes, Lily loved Nic, but they were basically kids. They constantly argued and broke up, and then got back together again, only to repeat the cycle. They were broken up when Nic was in the accident. Whether they would have ended up together is an open question, and I, for one, hope that the answer would be no. I liked Nic, hell, I loved him. He was a great guy, but the problem was that everyone loved him, and that included girls. Lily got plenty of male attention, as well. Was Nic the love of her life? I don’t know. I do know that she was devastated after the accident. She had a lot of guilt about them breaking up just the week before.”
“She kept the photos,” Tate said. “She must have felt something for him.”
“I’m sure she did. We all had some good times together. I probably have some pictures socked away in a box somewhere, too.”
“Did she ever bring up Nic in conversation? Talk about the good old days? That sort of thing?”
“Every now and then,” Mark replied with a shrug. “Not in front of your dad, of course, but we did talk about the past. I never got the feeling that she was longing for Nic, if that’s what you’re asking. She mostly talked about how happy and carefree those days were. How we didn’t have any grown-up worries.”
“She used to talk about her school years, but she never said Nic’s name. She mentioned you, Kim, Shayla, and a few other friends. But she never mentioned him.”
“Tate, Nic is not the reason Lily disappeared.”
The words were so simple. A clear statement, but it tore at Tate’s heart. He’d had such hope when they’d found the photos. He’d desperately wanted them to be the key to…something.
“I know that you’re looking into Lily’s disappearance, and I support you in that. I truly do. But all this ancient history with Nic doesn’t have anything to do with why she’s gone.”
“I just have to find out what happened,” Tate said, his throat tight with emotion. “Dad said that he hired someone to look into it, but we know he’s a liar. The police screwed all of this up. I don’t think it’s too late to find out the truth.”
Mark scraped his hand down his face, his expression almost tortured with deep lines etched around his eyes and mouth.
“Son, I love you. I love all of you. But you need to be realistic about all of this. Yes, I support your efforts to find out what happened that day, but you need to do the math and realize the chances of finding any answers are…shit…pretty fucking low. I don’t want to see you heartbroken when this doesn’t turn out the way that you hoped it would.”
Mark placed his hand on Tate’s shoulder.
“There’s one thing I know for sure. I know that Lily loved you. She loved her children with everything inside of her. Never doubt that.”
“But she wasn’t happy. She died sad.”
To Tate, that was the worst part. His mother should have had a wonderful life, but instead, she’d been married to an asshole.
“I think that your mother was happy. Her marriage might not have been great, but she always told me that she had a great life pretty much every time we talked. Good friends, fun times, amazing children. Damn, she was proud of all of you. So fucking proud. Believe me, she gave as good as she got when it came to Joel. She didn’t take any shit from him.”
Tate had wanted this meeting with Mark to be a catalyst for the investigation in some way. He’d had…hopes.
But he wasn’t a quitter.
“Your last conversation with Mom…what did you talk about?”
“I know you want me to say something that’s going to help you, but it wasn’t like that. We talked about the weather, we talked about you kids. She was excited about Piper’s upcoming graduation and Zack’s promotion at work.”
